Microsoft has a slightly different content policy on their machine.
They keep a very tight hold on what may live on their platform, and generally they try to "monetize" whatever goes on it.
No web browser, no youtube, no BBC iPlayer.
They have started to slowly embrace the concept user-created-content (and eventually free-as-in-beer content) through XNA, but the real ethos of Xbox is the ultimate walled-garden, money-tree entertainment device. Time will tell as to whether this is the best avenue for them to go down.
Sure, but you need games that are truly high quality in order for this comparison to be valid.
The real danger for gaming is that it becomes a tame world of simple parlour games and teenage fantasy fulfilment.
The "Shakespeare & Bach" games are few and far between right now, and I fear that they're likely to become even rarer in the increasingly risk-averse game industry.
I doubt that this will do anything other than fragment the situation.
BTX has been an utter failure, not because there was anything wrong with it, but that there was nothing compelling enough to shift people from ATX.
Personally I'm a *big* fan of the improvements that ATX gave us over AT - Mostly that I'm no longer likely to electrocute myself by touching the live power switch in AT machines. Ouch.
Sure, I take the point that personal services using specialist skills are indeed limited in SL.
The valued use of these services does happen, but unless you have a serious "thing" for cybersex or an insatiable penchant for novelty hats, most of your day-to-day SLing will rely on general commodity items that need not be scarce in this virtual world.
When commodities are traded in the real world, there is a value put on them according to supply and demand. Having an unlimited supply of commodity items in a virtual world disrupts this process. Looking at our own real-world economy, we can see examples of this ability to supply near unlimited quantities of items already - and this is likely to increase in the future. I would suggest that we do seriously look at alternative economies now if we are to make the most (for everyone!) of what is to come.
I think a lot of people have failed to realise some things about the economy of Second Life. Unlike our real-world economy, the world of SL doesn't have the same economic limits and drives that we're used to. If we do look at what's really going on there, we can see how things might change in our "real" economy in the future - and I don't just mean trying to do the same old "real" stuff virtually:
Apart from land (the price of which is set by Linden Labs), there is no real scarcity. If I want something (anything!), I can make it myself.
In the world you have no needs. You don't need any food to eat, you don't even need a place to live.
While it is described as a "game", there is no real game in SL. As such there is no struggle to gain resources to achieve game success.
Now, the only real reason for any money in this game is for people to be able to buy items from other people that have created. However, if this system were to be abandoned in favour of, say, a FOSS-like model, people would simply make things that they enjoy creating, freely distribute them and likewise obtain items that they like from others without need for any financial exchange whatsoever. There certainly are many people already in SL who just give their creations freely without seeking any real payment other than a simple "thanks".
There is no reason that this shouldn't happen other than we're quite used to dealing with a capitalist system based on scarcity. If we ever hope to grow beyond our current real-world economics, it's certainly worth trying to experiment with alternative systems virtually.
And unlike purely commercial entities, and while they do commercialise some of their efforts, they aren't trying to extract as much profit as possible like Pfizer, GSK, AstraZeneca are.
Bottom line: Drug companies have to make a profit. They have to recover costs
Drug companies DO have to make a profit, but to say that this is to recoup their R&D costs is a little naive. These companies must return a substantial profit for their shareholders. R&D is simply a means to an end, and that end is shareholder value.
Non-profit entities (as nicely detailed in TFA) are quite able to make great advances in medical science without the requirement for profit.
Pharmaceutical companies could then strive to manufacture these "open" drugs in as an efficient way as possible, in an effort to compete with other manufacturers. This competitiveness would give us, the public cheap, quality drugs, and allow the manufacturing companies to make a profit.
This is capitalism as it should be. This is medicine as it should be.
Since when have the 'professional' pirates ever been the first to crack anything?
The black-market types will just wait a few days for the enthusiasts to crack the software then just make money off the back of the cracker's work, as they do with the software itself.
It's merely a last-ditch effort by media companies to hold on to their existing business model as much as possible. What Mr Jenner is assuming in this interview is that collection organisations such as PRS and MCPS could have their reach extended further by encompassing not just broadcasters, performance venues, or regular retail, but every citizen that just *might* be using content that the media companies have acquired copyright for.
What Jenner is failing to realise here is that these collection oligarchies are rapidly becoming outmoded. Artists beginning to realise that these mechanisms which collect and distribute money are incredibly unfair, favouring only the larger artists, or at least the ones with the better-negotiated contract. To assume that a panicked extension on the remit of collection organisations would run as the BBC television license is laughable. The BBC is only able to exist on a strong public-service remit - allowing record companies their own secondary taxation would not work with an already jaded public.
Many artists, and smaller labels are realising that the old systems are not the only way to get their music to the public, and to make a living from doing what they love. If Sony BMG, Warner, EMI and Universal wish to continue to sell music, they really need to rethink the way in which they do business.
[Please insert your own ocean liner feng shui metaphor here]
Unfortunately even if they wanted to choose not to store the data, they may be compelled to by law.
Several governments either have laws, or are introducing laws that require Telcos, ISPs and the like to retain data usually under the guise of protecting us from terrorism.
Ladies & Gentlemen, set your tinfoil hats to stun.
If you're suffering from dry eyes, headaches, back aches, erratic sleep patterns, it may be more than just your average hangover: according to Dr. Maressa Orzack, you could be suffering from video and computer game addiction.
Parent makes an incredibly important point here in comparing water with the internet - it is, or at least soon will be, a vital utility for people living this century.
So much of our daily lives are being carried out online. The much-vaunted "digital divide" is something that governments are at pains to resolve, otherwise they will see a new social underclass evolve, and will lose general productivity amongst their population.
One can see, then, that if industry groups such as the BPI are able to remove someone from being online now, this could set a dangerous precedent for the future that would see large companies [or their representatives] being able to control who is or who is not online with out any legal oversight whatsoever.
I've also been working on a third-person-perspective adventure game mod for the Source engine as part of my studies.
We built Absence over the last few months of our degree at the University of Salford. There were 7 of us who worked on it, and like the folk at Guildhall, we found the source engine to be very flexible to work with - hammer in particular is a wonderful tool.
There were a few problems, however. As we were left up to our own devices, we had to rely solely on the modding community for support. This was good in that there are a number of friendly and helpful modders about who are willing to give advice - but there are rather massive gaps in knowledge with the source engine - particularly the coding side of things. When you've only got a short amount of time to come up with something the tech can quickly become a significant barrier.
Also, getting the game out to people that don't have the game is a pain. Yes, I know this is a totally obvious thing to say, but when you're trying to get an *adventure* game out, using a *shooter* engine means that your immediate audience is expecting something with guns/cars/boobs/etc, and you tend to not get much of a sympathetic ear when discussing your game.
That aside, tho, source is great fun - and for the purposes of our school project, it did the job admirably.
As noted in TFA, the UK have plunged into DAB for digital radio provision - however as enthusiastic for "HD Radio" as the article is, I doubt that the UK [or the rest of Europe for that matter] will switch to this IBOC malarky.
It has taken a lot of effort to get people to make the jump to digital [for both radio and tv...], and switching to yet another format simply won't work, if it requires new things for people to buy.
OFCOM [the UK version of the FCC, if you like] seems to be leaning towards possibly introducing DAB with an AAC codec - but again, it's not likely that this will work unless enough DAB manufacturers build a degree of forward-compatibility into their devices NOW, rather than try and sell completely new hardware further down the line.
The main problem with writing games for the mac isn't the platform itself, however.
The real reason why mac gaming hasn't taken off is the very small audience. The PC already has a large install base, an established audience and still only finds a small segment of the whole games market.
Any mac game venture could only hope to gain a small improvement over its currently modest array of titles, unless some serious money was put in to convincing developers/publishers to port more games to the platform the only thing that would be gained from this would be a few more [brace yourself] "switchers". For many games remain a major reason why they would never even consider buying a mac - removing that barrier would certainly add a few more people to the ranks of apple users.
Although if the children are demanding a Playstation, then often only a Playstation will do.
Opting for a cheaper console is often a no-no for parents trying to sate their youngster's gaming fix. This is especially true for poorer families [at least here in the UK] for whom such consumer items are status symbols. Not owning the right console [or shoe, mobile phone..] is actually quite a stigma for certain people.
That said, Nintendo really aren't aiming squarely at the gaming-savvy youth in the playground, they're aiming it at the curious agnostic, or lapsed gamer and so should garner an audience from these people, especially at the expected ~$200 price point.
They won't, however, make major inroads into the dominance gained by Sony. Despite the poor showing at E3, and the screes of tutting across the net the playstation audience by and large will still demand a PS3. and make no mistake [he says, setting himself up for a fall come December...] Sony will sell out of PS3 machines this Christmas and the machine will easily find itself installed in millions of homes over the next few years.
Sure, the US does expend much more money on healthcare than the UK, but if this study suggests that people in the UK are still healthier, what does that say of the US healthcare system?
Perhaps the NHS with it's endless 'performance targets', NICE reviews, and Local Trust bureaucracies is actually doing a better job of making people better than the largely private US system, with it's deeper pockets, and strong-arm tactician pharmaceutical companies?
As much as bloggers like to be considered the new form of journalism they aren't, they are just people (often with overinflated ego's) who want to have their say.
So what exactly is the difference between a 'blogger' and a 'journalist'?
A journalist is merely a person that records information, usually for publication.
Certainly, a typical blogger often writes more opinion than fact. However, the same can certainly be said for a great many 'real' journalists and contributing writers for many publications, both online and offline - none of whom would be raked over the coals by Apple for being given leaked trade secrets.
Just because someone has the backing of a large media conglomerate, publishing house, or broadcaster, doesn't make them more of a journalist than a freelance writer with their own website.
A smoker only feels "calmed down" because their craving has been satiated
Actually, a smoker feels calmed down due to elevated levels of dopamine generated by the nicotine. While withdrawl symptoms can cause stress which is then relieved by more nicotine, that doesn't discount the stimulant effects of smoking.
Slashdot Mirror
Is the first part of the test to restart the web server?
You could always use DVD Jon's DoubleTwist to sync the Palm Pre.
It reads iTunes libraries (including those irritatingly hidden away on iPods/Phones) and syncs to lots of devices quite nicely.
It's not exactly full-featured enough yet to use as your main media player, but it's really useful for moving stuff between devices.
Microsoft has a slightly different content policy on their machine.
They keep a very tight hold on what may live on their platform, and generally they try to "monetize" whatever goes on it.
No web browser, no youtube, no BBC iPlayer.
They have started to slowly embrace the concept user-created-content (and eventually free-as-in-beer content) through XNA, but the real ethos of Xbox is the ultimate walled-garden, money-tree entertainment device. Time will tell as to whether this is the best avenue for them to go down.
Sure, but you need games that are truly high quality in order for this comparison to be valid.
The real danger for gaming is that it becomes a tame world of simple parlour games and teenage fantasy fulfilment.
The "Shakespeare & Bach" games are few and far between right now, and I fear that they're likely to become even rarer in the increasingly risk-averse game industry.
I doubt that this will do anything other than fragment the situation.
BTX has been an utter failure, not because there was anything wrong with it, but that there was nothing compelling enough to shift people from ATX.
Personally I'm a *big* fan of the improvements that ATX gave us over AT - Mostly that I'm no longer likely to electrocute myself by touching the live power switch in AT machines. Ouch.
What would be a great gesture now is to release the server application to the game community.
Let people run their own hobby servers.
Sure, I take the point that personal services using specialist skills are indeed limited in SL.
The valued use of these services does happen, but unless you have a serious "thing" for cybersex or an insatiable penchant for novelty hats, most of your day-to-day SLing will rely on general commodity items that need not be scarce in this virtual world.
When commodities are traded in the real world, there is a value put on them according to supply and demand. Having an unlimited supply of commodity items in a virtual world disrupts this process. Looking at our own real-world economy, we can see examples of this ability to supply near unlimited quantities of items already - and this is likely to increase in the future. I would suggest that we do seriously look at alternative economies now if we are to make the most (for everyone!) of what is to come.
I think a lot of people have failed to realise some things about the economy of Second Life. Unlike our real-world economy, the world of SL doesn't have the same economic limits and drives that we're used to. If we do look at what's really going on there, we can see how things might change in our "real" economy in the future - and I don't just mean trying to do the same old "real" stuff virtually:
Now, the only real reason for any money in this game is for people to be able to buy items from other people that have created. However, if this system were to be abandoned in favour of, say, a FOSS-like model, people would simply make things that they enjoy creating, freely distribute them and likewise obtain items that they like from others without need for any financial exchange whatsoever. There certainly are many people already in SL who just give their creations freely without seeking any real payment other than a simple "thanks".
There is no reason that this shouldn't happen other than we're quite used to dealing with a capitalist system based on scarcity. If we ever hope to grow beyond our current real-world economics, it's certainly worth trying to experiment with alternative systems virtually.
Shall we argue this over a quick pint?
You're unlikely to replicate the research large drug companies do in academia.
The good folk at The Wellcome Trust might disagree with you there.
And unlike purely commercial entities, and while they do commercialise some of their efforts, they aren't trying to extract as much profit as possible like Pfizer, GSK, AstraZeneca are.
Bottom line: Drug companies have to make a profit. They have to recover costs
Drug companies DO have to make a profit, but to say that this is to recoup their R&D costs is a little naive. These companies must return a substantial profit for their shareholders. R&D is simply a means to an end, and that end is shareholder value.
Non-profit entities (as nicely detailed in TFA) are quite able to make great advances in medical science without the requirement for profit.
Pharmaceutical companies could then strive to manufacture these "open" drugs in as an efficient way as possible, in an effort to compete with other manufacturers. This competitiveness would give us, the public cheap, quality drugs, and allow the manufacturing companies to make a profit.
This is capitalism as it should be. This is medicine as it should be.
Since when have the 'professional' pirates ever been the first to crack anything?
The black-market types will just wait a few days for the enthusiasts to crack the software then just make money off the back of the cracker's work, as they do with the software itself.
A blanket licensing system won't work.
It's merely a last-ditch effort by media companies to hold on to their existing business model as much as possible. What Mr Jenner is assuming in this interview is that collection organisations such as PRS and MCPS could have their reach extended further by encompassing not just broadcasters, performance venues, or regular retail, but every citizen that just *might* be using content that the media companies have acquired copyright for.
What Jenner is failing to realise here is that these collection oligarchies are rapidly becoming outmoded. Artists beginning to realise that these mechanisms which collect and distribute money are incredibly unfair, favouring only the larger artists, or at least the ones with the better-negotiated contract. To assume that a panicked extension on the remit of collection organisations would run as the BBC television license is laughable. The BBC is only able to exist on a strong public-service remit - allowing record companies their own secondary taxation would not work with an already jaded public.
Many artists, and smaller labels are realising that the old systems are not the only way to get their music to the public, and to make a living from doing what they love. If Sony BMG, Warner, EMI and Universal wish to continue to sell music, they really need to rethink the way in which they do business.
[Please insert your own ocean liner feng shui metaphor here]
Unfortunately even if they wanted to choose not to store the data, they may be compelled to by law.
Several governments either have laws, or are introducing laws that require Telcos, ISPs and the like to retain data usually under the guise of protecting us from terrorism.
Ladies & Gentlemen, set your tinfoil hats to stun.
If you're suffering from dry eyes, headaches, back aches, erratic sleep patterns, it may be more than just your average hangover: according to Dr. Maressa Orzack, you could be suffering from video and computer game addiction.
/cast Abolish Disease
/dance
No problem.
Parent makes an incredibly important point here in comparing water with the internet - it is, or at least soon will be, a vital utility for people living this century.
So much of our daily lives are being carried out online. The much-vaunted "digital divide" is something that governments are at pains to resolve, otherwise they will see a new social underclass evolve, and will lose general productivity amongst their population.
One can see, then, that if industry groups such as the BPI are able to remove someone from being online now, this could set a dangerous precedent for the future that would see large companies [or their representatives] being able to control who is or who is not online with out any legal oversight whatsoever.
I've also been working on a third-person-perspective adventure game mod for the Source engine as part of my studies.
We built Absence over the last few months of our degree at the University of Salford. There were 7 of us who worked on it, and like the folk at Guildhall, we found the source engine to be very flexible to work with - hammer in particular is a wonderful tool.
There were a few problems, however. As we were left up to our own devices, we had to rely solely on the modding community for support. This was good in that there are a number of friendly and helpful modders about who are willing to give advice - but there are rather massive gaps in knowledge with the source engine - particularly the coding side of things. When you've only got a short amount of time to come up with something the tech can quickly become a significant barrier.
Also, getting the game out to people that don't have the game is a pain. Yes, I know this is a totally obvious thing to say, but when you're trying to get an *adventure* game out, using a *shooter* engine means that your immediate audience is expecting something with guns/cars/boobs/etc, and you tend to not get much of a sympathetic ear when discussing your game.
That aside, tho, source is great fun - and for the purposes of our school project, it did the job admirably.
As noted in TFA, the UK have plunged into DAB for digital radio provision - however as enthusiastic for "HD Radio" as the article is, I doubt that the UK [or the rest of Europe for that matter] will switch to this IBOC malarky.
It has taken a lot of effort to get people to make the jump to digital [for both radio and tv...], and switching to yet another format simply won't work, if it requires new things for people to buy.
OFCOM [the UK version of the FCC, if you like] seems to be leaning towards possibly introducing DAB with an AAC codec - but again, it's not likely that this will work unless enough DAB manufacturers build a degree of forward-compatibility into their devices NOW, rather than try and sell completely new hardware further down the line.
The main problem with writing games for the mac isn't the platform itself, however.
The real reason why mac gaming hasn't taken off is the very small audience. The PC already has a large install base, an established audience and still only finds a small segment of the whole games market.
Any mac game venture could only hope to gain a small improvement over its currently modest array of titles, unless some serious money was put in to convincing developers/publishers to port more games to the platform the only thing that would be gained from this would be a few more [brace yourself] "switchers". For many games remain a major reason why they would never even consider buying a mac - removing that barrier would certainly add a few more people to the ranks of apple users.
Although if the children are demanding a Playstation, then often only a Playstation will do.
Opting for a cheaper console is often a no-no for parents trying to sate their youngster's gaming fix. This is especially true for poorer families [at least here in the UK] for whom such consumer items are status symbols. Not owning the right console [or shoe, mobile phone..] is actually quite a stigma for certain people.
That said, Nintendo really aren't aiming squarely at the gaming-savvy youth in the playground, they're aiming it at the curious agnostic, or lapsed gamer and so should garner an audience from these people, especially at the expected ~$200 price point.
They won't, however, make major inroads into the dominance gained by Sony. Despite the poor showing at E3, and the screes of tutting across the net the playstation audience by and large will still demand a PS3. and make no mistake [he says, setting himself up for a fall come December...] Sony will sell out of PS3 machines this Christmas and the machine will easily find itself installed in millions of homes over the next few years.
Beta depends on who you talk to and the "concept" no longer means what it used to mean.
That's because Gamma is the new Beta.
Me? I'm hanging on for Vista Omega.
nope.
Sure, the US does expend much more money on healthcare than the UK, but if this study suggests that people in the UK are still healthier, what does that say of the US healthcare system?
Perhaps the NHS with it's endless 'performance targets', NICE reviews, and Local Trust bureaucracies is actually doing a better job of making people better than the largely private US system, with it's deeper pockets, and strong-arm tactician pharmaceutical companies?
You shouldn't respect power, rather, you should respect the virtue of one's actions.
As much as bloggers like to be considered the new form of journalism they aren't, they are just people (often with overinflated ego's) who want to have their say.
So what exactly is the difference between a 'blogger' and a 'journalist'?
A journalist is merely a person that records information, usually for publication.
Certainly, a typical blogger often writes more opinion than fact. However, the same can certainly be said for a great many 'real' journalists and contributing writers for many publications, both online and offline - none of whom would be raked over the coals by Apple for being given leaked trade secrets.
Just because someone has the backing of a large media conglomerate, publishing house, or broadcaster, doesn't make them more of a journalist than a freelance writer with their own website.
A smoker only feels "calmed down" because their craving has been satiated
Actually, a smoker feels calmed down due to elevated levels of dopamine generated by the nicotine. While withdrawl symptoms can cause stress which is then relieved by more nicotine, that doesn't discount the stimulant effects of smoking.